Dead Men
by DaqandAsh
Summary: First of the "Torturing Marco" series. Spinner's POV. Imagine you're Marco and your father is...less than understanding about your gayocity. Which friend is the worst one you can imagine coming to help you out?
1. Default Chapter

A/N. This is our first Degrassi fic, and my first fic in general, so please be nice. Ash did most of the writing, but under a lot of my direction. He's gasp not really a fan (yet), but I'm working on it! This is the first of our "Torturing Marco" series of stories. For more author's notes, see our profile.

The story is not yet completely written, and sometimes updating may be slow. The story will be finished, but I can't promise anything more than that.

Disclaimer: We don't own the characters of Degrassi. The plot isn't completely original, either, but hopefully we've put a nice spin on it (no pun). (It's from Spinner's POV)

Chapter One:

I was such a dead man.

I didn't mean to do it. I swear I didn't. It was just the usual run-of-the-mill case of footinthemouthitis. You know me. It happens. I don't mean it to, but...I guess my mouth runs faster than my brain sometimes. Most of the time. No surprises, there, huh? But I still didn't mean to do it.

I was working at The Dot when it happened. Paige and Marco had just left--off to do some shopping before Marco's "big" date with Paige's brother. I still don't get that. I mean...Marco and Dylan? They're both really popular guys. I bet either one of them could have just about any girl on campus! They're cool, but...them being together still kinda creeps me out. Don't tell Paige...or Marco. Or Jimmy. Hell, don't tell anyone. I really don't have nothing against them. I'm just sayin'...I dunno. I just don't get it.

Anyway, back to what happened.

So, I'm there cleaning off the table that Paige and Marco were sitting at and in comes Mr. Del Rossi.

"Hay-lo, Speener!" he greeted me with a giant grin on his face. It's easy to see where Marco gets his goofy expressions.

"Hey, Mr. Del Rossi," I replied, wiping off the table.

"You have seen Marco around, hey?"

"Him and Paige just left." (I know, I know, it's 'he and Paige' but like you talk all proper all the time?)

Mr. Del Rossi's face fell like a...well...like something that falls. For just a moment, though, but then he brightens again. "My son. He always out with the pretty girls," he looked so proud. "She is pretty, this 'Paige'?"

I smiled. "Yeah she's pretty," I sighed.

"Any girlfriend of my son would be," Mr. Del Rossi boasted.

And that's when it happened. I didn't mean to do it. But I laughed. "Paige? No, she's my girlfriend. She's just helping Marco get ready cuz he's dating her broth...er..." See, I even tried to stop myself. But it was too late.

"Scusi?"

"Er...I..." I couldn't even think of how to make that sound better than it did.

"You make joke?" Mr. Del Rossi questioned, his eyes looking more serious than I'd ever seen them.

"Yeah! I mean yes! I was joking!" I sighed with relief. Thank God. Good cover. I let out a laugh to emphasize the point.

But Mr. Del Rossi didn't look too convinced. "Why you make joke like that? Why you challenge Marco's honor?"

I backpedaled quickly. "No! No. I'm not challenging his honor. I just..." I licked my lips and shook my head, trying to come up with something again.

"You challenge family honor. My honor."

I held up my hands defensively. "Sorry. No. I was just...joking. 'Cuz...Marco hangs around with Dylan all the time and..." I could see Mr. Del Rossi's eyes growing darker. "Not like all the time," I amended. "Just...um...when Paige and me go out." Oh that made sense. Damn, Gavin, think! "Cuz they don't have girlfriends...and so they...hang out. Otherwise they would get bored." Oh my God, how lame am I? Like anyone would buy that?

Mr. Del Rossi frowned. "Marco no have girlfriend?" His brow furrowed in confusion. "He said he had date tonight."

CRAP!

"Um...no. He broke up with Ellie, you know, and...just..."

"Well, he a good boy. Smart. Strong. Should find another girl in no time." Mr. Del Rossi looked happy again, thank god.

So that would have been a good time to keep quiet and let the conversation die, right? Right.

But remember how my brain moves faster than my mouth sometimes? "Yeah, he could date pretty much any girl he wanted! I mean, Hazel jumped at the chance to go out with him, and she's like one of the most popular girls in school, but he just..." Oh. My. God. What. Had. I. Done? "Wasn't interested. You know. In Hazel." SHUT UP, GAVIN!

Mr. Del Rossi was giving me a strange look, but I just flashed a smile back.

"He rather spend time with this...Dylan boy, then go out with this Hazel?"

"She's not his type?" I suggested, sounding hopeful that he'd buy it.

He seemed to get a look of understanding on his face. But, I could see that he wasn't exactly happy with my answer.

When he left The Dot, I really thought that maybe I should give Marco a call and give him a heads up that I might have screwed up. Except then I got sidetracked when Craig stopped in. I didn't mean to forget, but what's the worst that could happen?

Don't answer that.


	2. Chapter 2

"Have any of you talked to Marco lately?" Paige asked as she sat down at the lunch table. When none of us answered, she sighed. "Dylan's been trying to call for several days but nobody ever answers. He's getting really worried. Marco hasn't been in school, and doesn't answer his cell."

"Maybe he's sick," I suggested, not really all that worried. I mean, it happens, right? He probably had the flu and had turned off his cell and was sleeping all the time.

Paige looked at me like I was being stupid.

"We should ask Ellie," Hazel suggested. Unlike my suggestion, hers was met with murmurs of approval from everyone else. Like that's so much smarter than what I said?

"Someone should stop by his place after school," Paige added, looking at me pointedly.

Why was she looking at me like that? "Me?"

"Well you are his best friend."

"Actually, that would be Ellie," I replied just to be argumentative. It's not that I minded going to see my friend, but...well, Paige and I were planning to go out. And, no offense to Marco, but I'd far rather be out driving around with Paige than sit around watching him throw up or something.

Paige rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine," she scowled, turning away and pouting.

I sighed. I guessed that meant that unless I agreed to go check on Marco, we wouldn't be out driving around together any time soon. "Fine. We can go by after school and make sure he's eating his chicken soup," I relented.

"Thank you, Honey Bee," she cooed, leaning over and kissing me on the cheek.

I am such a sucker.

Since I said I would, after school I headed over to Marco's to make sure he was okay. I wasn't too upset, though, when nobody answered the door. Hazel and Paige were going to wait for me at The Dot, so I was just going to head there and tell them that the Del Rossis appeared to have left town or something.

Unfortunately, before I made a clean getaway, Ellie showed up.

"Nobody's home," I informed her as she passed me coming up the walk.

"The light's on in Marco's room," she replied simply, pointing up to the window. Not bothering to go to the front door, instead she went straight for the rose trellis. Like she'd done it a million times before or something, she scaled the trellis, slid open the apparently unlocked window, and slipped inside.

Fine. Showoff.

I wasn't about to be outdone, though. Not if I'd have to go back and admit to Paige that Ellie had gotten to see Marco while I hadn't. I waited for a moment to make sure that she wasn't going to just climb back down a moment later announcing that Marco wasn't home, and then went to climb up after her.

She made it look really easy, but I'm telling you it wasn't. Those rose trellis things were not meant to be climbed.

Not to mention I got about a thousand little cuts from thorns.

All to make Paige happy.

I tumbled into Marco's room less than gracefully.

"Ow, damnit," I cursed, rubbing my head. "You could have gone down and unlocked the door," I informed Ellie, who looked less than impressed.

Her attention didn't stay on me long, though. Instead, it returned to the space between Marco's bed and the wall. It took me a moment to realize why. Though I couldn't see him clearly, I could tell that Marco was sitting over there on the floor. He was bundled up in his blanket, and had his head down, avoiding looking at either of us. Or more likely hiding his face.

Probably the chicken pox. He was always so concerned about looking good. It would be gasp horrible if he had blemishes on his pretty little face.

"Oh, hey, Marco," I greeted, flopping down on the bed, not worried about catching the pox. I've already had it. Like twice, which isn't supposed to be possible, but somehow it had.

Ellie stared at me, incredulous.

"Go away," Marco mumbled, sounding absolutely terrible. Maybe it wasn't the chicken pox after all. A cold, maybe. He sounded really stuffed up. I scooted a little bit farther away. Chicken pox exposure, fine, but a cold? Then again, taking three days off from school like Marco had would be cool. I scooted closer again, inhaling germs as much as possible.

Ellie stared at me, incredulous.

"Please, just go away," Marco tried again, not looking up.

"Marco, what's wrong?" Ellie asked.

"Nothing, I'm fine," he replied, sounding anything but fine. "I'm just tired. Go away."

"Look at me," she insisted.

"Ellie, please, just go away," he pleaded weakly.

"He's moody when he's sick," I surmised.

Ellie stared at me, incredulous.

"Fine, we'll leave, but only if you tell us what's wrong, first," she returned her attention to Marco. She reached out, apparently to like start petting him or something weird like that, but as soon as her hand neared him, he jerked away, hitting his head against the wall.

Ellie glared at me before I could start laughing at his misfortune. What?! It's funny when it happens to other people!

"Marco?" she tried again. "Look at me."

When he finally did, I lost all temptation to laugh. Ellie sucked in her breath and turned away for a few moments to compose herself while I stared at him, stunned. "W-what...?"

He looked toward me through bloodshot eyes. Actually only one bloodshot eye. The other was swollen shut. His eye wouldn't meet mine. "The park..." he let out a shaky laugh. "I don't learn...stupid, huh?" he rasped out, smiling bitterly before lowering his face again.

What did he mean about the park? I had to think for a few moments before I realized what had happened. He'd been bashed again. Man. He looked a lot worse than the last time, even. I grimaced, thinking that if his face looked that bad, what the rest of him probably looked like. Not that I'm like wanting to see the rest of him or anything weird like that.

"When...?" Ellie asked softly, wiping her eyes before turning back to face him.

"Saturday."

"Wh-why didn't you call me?" she asked softly, pulling the bed away from Marco, and then moving so she could squat down beside him, wrapping her arm around his shoulders. At first he seemed to be trying to draw back, pressing himself against the wall, but after a few moments, he gave in and leaned against her, letting out a little sob that he'd obviously been trying to hold in. The warning look that Ellie gave me convinced me not to say a word.

"I'm sorry," Marco whispered.

I sat awkwardly on the bed, wondering if maybe I should go. I had no idea what to say to him. I mean, I felt bad and all. He didn't deserve getting beat up. Again. Same park and everything.

Wait.

I frowned.

"What were you doing there?" I asked, confused. There wasn't like a hockey game that night or anything. And he wasn't out with Dylan. I'd seen Dylan over at Paige's and he'd said something about studying for a midterm.

"Spinner," Ellie hissed. I was just asking!

Marco didn't answer, but buried his face against Ellie. My eyebrows shot up at the way she held his head to her boobs without even seeming to notice. Wow.

I wondered if that was a move that only worked for gay guys.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thanks to Xylem, ReRe04, Cute Pony, Mo-52 (I'm enjoying your fic 'Dancing With Myself', by the way, sorry I haven't reviewed yet. I will, I promise ;)), and MysticChic for reviewing! (And yes, Mystic, I was aware of the repeated line…I don't usually do that sort of thing, but I thought it'd be funny there (stop-action, full on Ellie glare, really standing out because it was repeated); Plus Spinner just doesn't strike me as a Thesaurus sort of guy --Ash)

Chapter 3

I rubbed my arm where Ellie had smacked it. For no reason! None! All I said was that I was really hungry and was going to go down and grab something from the kitchen! I glared back at her, but she'd already turned back to Marco, cringing as she dabbed gently at Marco's bloodied face with the tissue she'd grabbed from his bathroom.

It's so cool that Marco has his own private bathroom. Of course since he always has to look 'just right', his parents probably figured they better just give him a room with it's own bath or they'd never be to work on time cuz he'd be hogging the bath all morning. Maybe I should try that at home and see if they'll build on an additional bath so I don't have to share with my sister.

"This would be easier if you sit up here," Ellie informed Marco, trying once again to coax him to come out of the corner. It was a lost cause. He seemed rather intent on staying down there in his grimy seclusion forever. I swear he could be so melodramatic. And kinda crusty. It was weird; there was still like blood dried on his face and stuff.

You'd think that since this had happened on Saturday and it was now Wednesday, his mom would have made sure he like cleaned himself up or something by now. I know my mom would have been yelling at me by Monday if I hadn't showered. Especially if I was smelling rather rank, like Marco was.

Then again, if I'd come home looking as bad as Marco did, my mother would have dragged my ass directly to the hospital. She also never would have let me sulk alone in my room for days. Mrs. Del Rossi'd always struck me as the smothery type of mom, but apparently she wasn't as smothery as mine.

I considered leaving again as Ellie continued to wash Marco's face like he was a little kid or something, but I didn't want to face Paige's wrath if I were to leave before he was at least a little more Marco-y. I didn't have a clue how I was supposed to help, though. So I flopped back on the bed again and let Ellie do her thing while I watched.

That was exciting for all of 30 seconds.

"So…do you want me to grab you guys anything from the kitchen?" I asked, before getting up again. See, I wasn't just thinking about my own rumbling stomach. I figured Marco had to be kind of hungry too. It sort of seemed like maybe he'd just been hiding out in his room for days, and there was no sign of food anywhere. No pizza boxes or pop cans or even broken chips on the floor. Not like I expected Marco's room to be like mine or anything, but I swear the guy's room was like immaculate. He didn't even have any posters on the walls or stuff out on his desk or anything!

Marco reached up and grasped my wrist. "Don't…" He bit his lip nervously (or maybe hungrily. I bet he hadn't eaten in days, you know? See, not just thinking of my own stomach!) "I'm sorry. You guys should go."

"I'm not going anywhere," Ellie informed him, continuing to dab his face with the tissue. "Get me another tissue," she ordered him. Geez. Ordering around a guy that looks like he took on a meat grinder and lost? There's balls for you. So what if she is a girl, she's got a big set of 'em. After a few moments she stopped cleaning Marco's face to turn and glare at me (again!). What?! I didn't say that balls thing out loud! "Would you _please _get me another tissue?" OH! She'd been telling me!

I pulled my wrist from Marco's grasp, causing him to let out a pained hiss as I pulled him up on his feet. Oops. Well, he shouldn't have held on. It wasn't my fault! And I didn't feel guilty. Not one little bit.

Okay, fine, I felt really bad, but don't tell anyone or they'll think I'm totally mushy or something. Besides, at least I got him out of the corner. He sat down again, but at least he sat on the bed this time.

I looked down at him, apologetically, quickly averting my eyes as I saw that Marco's blanket had fallen enough to show us that he wasn't wearing a shirt under it. I really hoped he's wearing pants. Not that I think about Marco's pants or anything. I just prefer him to be wearing some.

I got up and went to the small bathroom off the side of Marco's bedroom. It seemed weird for some reason, but I couldn't figure out why. Not at first, anyway.

It also seemed weird that Ellie would use tissues when a washcloth would work a whole lot better. I mean, tissues just fall apart when you try to scrub and stuff; especially after you get the stuff wet. So, I figured I'd save her a big headache and just get her a cloth.

Except there wasn't one hanging on the towel rack. There wasn't even a towel for that matter. I frowned. I guess that's why he hadn't showered or anything. You'd think his mom would have gone and gotten him one if he'd asked, though. Or maybe there was one in the drawers under the sink? I pulled out the top drawer. It was completely empty. As was the second one. And the bottom one, too. Leaving the drawers open, I reached up and opened the mirror cabinet.

Empty.

That's what was wrong with the bathroom, I realized. There was nothing in it. Not even a toothbrush. Talk about weird. And not terribly hygienic. And Marco was usually almost downright obsessive about brushing his teeth and stuff. I mean who else brings a toothbrush to a study session?

When I turned around, I just about smacked right into Ellie.

"So, you noticed it, too?" she asked in a hushed voice, staring at me intensely. I know she's like Marco's best friend and all, but she makes me kind of nervous.

"Um…yeah." I nodded, even though I had no idea what it was that I was supposed to have noticed. I didn't want her to think I hadn't noticed! Whatever it was.

Ellie closed the toilet lid and sat down, absently snapping at the rubber bands around her wrist. "So…what do we do?" she asked.

She's like a zillion times smarter than me, so why was she bothering to ask me? I stroked my chin as if in thought. "I don't know? What do you think we should do?" Ha, take that, Ellie Nash!

She shook her head. "I don't know…But we need to get him out of here."

We do?

"We do?" I echoed myself out loud, thoroughly confused. Ellie looked at me like I was lower than pond scum. "I mean, we do!" I quickly turn it around. She was right, we couldn't let Marco sit around moping about getting bashed. "We should like take him to The Dot," I concluded. The expression on her face doesn't get much better. "For food," I reminded her, but she still looked overly doubtful. "Or, we could go back to my place," I tried again to appease her.

Ellie seemed to think on that for a moment before nodding. "Your mom would know what to do. That'd be good."

Right. Whatever my mother had to do with anything was beyond me, but at least Ellie wasn't giving me the Death Glare anymore.

"We're going to have to get him to admit what happened."

I blinked. What did she mean by that? He already told us, didn't he? I thought back over what little he'd said. Park. Stupid. Yeah, that about covered it. But, I didn't want to look dumb, so I stroked my chin again and nodded.

Ellie rolled her eyes and went back out to talk to Marco again. What?!?

My stomach rumbled again, reminding me that I still hadn't ventured down to the Del Rossi kitchen. And since we weren't going to The Dot, and my house was always lacking in good munchies, I figured it wouldn't hurt to stock up before we left. Marco would probably be a lot more comfortable about talking to Ellie about getting bashed in the park, than he would be with me, anyway. I was admittedly not the most sympathetic guy last time it happened. I've gotten better, so no lectures!

I peeked out into the bedroom and saw that Ellie once again had her attention focused on coaxing Marco out of the corner. While she was busy with that, I'd just head on down to the kitchen. Maybe check and see if Mama Del Rossi had some of her famous canolli around. Mmm. Canolli.

Talk about a bitter disappointment. When I opened the door--rather _tried_ to open the door--it only opened about two inches and then was stopped. What the…? I peeked out and discovered that there was a chain on the door.

On the outside of the door.

Why…?

I looked back at Marco and Ellie, confused.

Ellie had her back to me, but Marco's eyes were focused on me. They were wide until he saw me looking back and then they lowered immediately, as if he were suddenly finding something fascinating about the floor again.

I frowned. Ellie was right. There was something weird going on. Something more than just getting bashed in the park. I stared at Marco as Ellie continued talking to him in a low enough voice that I couldn't hear her. She wasn't getting anywhere. It was up to me, after all.

"Hey, Marco," I called out, startling Ellie, who seemed to have forgotten about me already. "What's up with the chain on the door?"

Marco's fascination with the floor seemed to intensify, but Ellie looked back at me with wide eyes, her mouth slightly agape. It was tempting to make the fish comment my mom always used to make whenever I had my mouth hanging open, but I couldn't remember exactly how it went, so I skipped it.

"Marco?" Ellie prompted softly when he didn't answer.

"It's nothing," he whispered.

Ellie just smiled sadly and ran her hand down his cheek, carefully avoiding the bruises. I stood there feeling awkward as she carefully soothed him a while longer. While my stomach continued to rumble.

"Come on, let's get out of here," Ellie finally got to the point a few minutes later. Marco still hadn't told us what was up with the lock, but she didn't seem to care about that.

"I can't," he answered, miserably.

Ellie looked at the door, which was still open only as far as the chain would allow, then looked back at me, with an almost helpless look. Anyone else, it would have been helpless, but this was Ellie, and I don't think that word is even in her otherwise extensive vocabulary.

"We can go out the way we came in," I suggested. "It's not that hard." Okay, so it was hard, but damn it, Ellie made it look easy. And maybe since Marco was a pretty small guy, it would work better for him, too.

"I _can't,_" Marco insisted, tersely.

"Sure you can," Ellie encouraged. "So come on. Get dressed and we'll--"

"Ellie," Marco cut her off, his voice low, but firm. "I can't."

Enough of that. "Sure you can, Marco," I shot back, getting irritated by his defeated attitude. Sure, his situation (whatever it was, I was still unsure) sucked, but he couldn't just sit there and mope for the rest of his life. "It's easy. You just get your depressed butt up, come over to your overstuffed closet," I threw open the door to demonstrate and was started to find it completely empty. No stupid shiny clubby shirts, no obnoxious cowboy frilly thing, not even a freaking pair of tennis shoes. "Or…or…over to your drawers?" I sounded a whole less confident, I know, but I had my suspicion about what I was going to find. And sure enough, when I pulled open the top drawer, it too was empty.

What the?

I looked back at him and found that he had his face buried now, in his hands. His blanket had slipped farther down, so I quickly turned away, but not before I noticed how he was trembling, and how unnaturally dark his skin was in spots. He'd really been battered this time. Not like he hadn't been last time, but…this time it was clearly more severe. And I had the distinct feeling now that it wasn't some unknown creeps in the park that had done this.

Uneasily, I moved over to his desk and slowly pulled open the drawers one by one.

Empty.

Empty.

Empty.

I sat down, the weight of realization hitting me. I shook my head. Surely…I looked up at Marco, not caring anymore that he was practically half naked. It didn't matter. Not anymore.

My throat suddenly felt incredibly tight. "Marco…what happened to all your things?" I asked, my voice barely audible. I was afraid I already knew what the answer was.

He peeked at me, and without a word spoken, I had my answer.

I looked over at Ellie and was stunned to see a streak of mascara on her cheek.

"You guys should go," Marco spoke quietly. "Please. My Pa…my Papa will be here any minute and you can't be here." I shook my head. No way were we leaving here without him. I opened my mouth to protest, but Marco shook his head and I shut up. I had no idea what to say anyway.

Ellie did. "We're not leaving you here," she choked out, defiantly. "They can't do this!"

"I'll be okay," Marco assured her, and I fought the urge to laugh. Not because it was funny; the situation was anything but. I guess it was more from the irony. Marco comforting Ellie, when he's the one who's parents were…were…I couldn't even think what they were doing to him. I didn't understand it at all. This was Marco! My best-friend-wouldn't-hurt-a-fly-Marco. And his parents were always so nice. A little eccentric and more than a little embarrassing at times, but…they weren't the abusive type. This was all some big mistake. Why would they suddenly do this? "Now_ please_, just go," Marco insisted firmly. "It will be…bad if you're here. I'm not supposed to talk to anyone."

"Marco!" Ellie protested. "If you don't come with us, I swear to God, I will call the police and have them come straight over here and drag you out."

Marco's eye widened. "Don't. I…I don't want them arrested. Y-you can't call the police, Ellie. Please. They're my parents." He looked so lost as he spoke those words. "M-my…papa. He's just…a little confused." Understatement! And since when does confusion cause bruises? "He'll be okay. He just needs a few days," he continued to soothe her. "I'll be okay."

Ellie wiped her eyes, and looked over at me, looking truly helpless this time.

I shook my head and gave her the "I have no idea" gesture.

"Promise me you will not call the police," Marco prompted Ellie, who shook her head defiantly. "Ellie, please!"

"No!"

"Ellie!" He made such a pained little whimpery noise that one would practically have to be stone-hearted not to fall for it.

For a moment they just stared at each other until finally Ellie gave a defeated little nod. She looked at me, tears glistening in her eyesand nodded toward the window. With one last look at Marco, she went back to the window and left the way she came in. Reluctantly, I followed, sparing one last look at Marco before I start climbing down.

Can I mention again how much I hate rose trellises?


	4. Chapter 4

A/N Thanks to ReRe04, Raven4Darkness and dexter for reviewing chapter 3.(Incidentally, I just want to say that I don't really think Spinner is an ass. He just has the uh...tendancy to not think things through very well, to not really ever forsee the consequences of his actions,and to often do the wrong thing before he does the right thing.)

I was disappointed to find that Ellie was gone by the time my feet were solidly on the ground. I'd hoped to talk to her at least a little bit about what we should do. It didn't seem right that we not do anything. I stared up at Marco's window for a few moments, still not really feeling right about leaving him alone up there.

But, I guess that's what Marco wanted.

And obviously Ellie was going to do what he wanted. So…I supposed I should, too.

Still hungry, I headed to The Dot.

"So how's Marco?" Paige asked as soon as I walked in the door. No kidding. Didn't even wait for me to order a burger or anything. It was like she and Hazel were just sitting there waiting to pounce on me the moment I got there. They looked at me expectantly.

"Um…" I couldn't tell them what Ellie and I had discovered. Could I? I mean…Marco hadn't wanted Ellie to call the police, which meant that he probably wouldn't want anyone else to. And Paige would totally tell everyone if she found out. Which meant that it would probably get reported. So, I couldn't tell them. "He's…pretty much stuck in bed." Not a complete lie. Okay, so he was really more on the floor beside his bed. But he was stuck.

"So why isn't he answering the phone?" Paige asked, frowning. "Or returning Dylan's calls?"

"He isn't supposed to talk." I realized right after I said it that I probably shouldn't have divulged that information. Indeed Paige's eyebrows went up. "Because he's sick." They went back down and she nodded. And that was the end of it.

For Paige anyway.

I myself had a lot of trouble getting to sleep that night.

I couldn't understand why Marco's parents would suddenly go psycho. I mean, Marco was pretty much everything that a parent would want, wasn't he? I mean he's incredibly smart, creative, reasonably athletic--not like he was the school jock or anything, but he wasn't like totally inept--popular, and probably the nicest guy in our school. And not that I think about such things, but I know several of the girls think he's really cute. So what more could his parents possibly want? The answer sat somewhere in the back of my mind, but I couldn't quite pull it out.

It made no sense.

None.

And what was up with removing everything from his room? I mean…take the phone, annoying, but sure. Computer, yeah, can see the point. But his clothes? What was up with that? There was no reasonable explanation I could come up with.

I rolled onto my side and stared at the clock. It was almost one in the morning and I still hadn't slept at all. I was really tempted to go wake my mom and ask her what I should do. But then she'd know and she'd probably tell me that what we should really do is call he police. That really seemed like what we should do. But Marco didn't want that.

I flopped over and buried my head under my pillow hoping that if it were completely dark I could fall asleep. Never mind that it wasn't light that was keeping me awake.

It just kept coming back to the big questions of 'why?' and 'what now?'

The next time I looked at my clock it was half-past one. I had to do something. That's all there was to it. If I just left things alone, I would continue not sleeping. So, it was time to become Spinner Mason, Man of Action.

The next thing I knew, someone was knocking on my door. I must've fallen asleep after all. I rolled over and saw that it was shortly after two. Who was knocking at this hour? And how did they get inside?

I shot upright in bed and stared at my bedroom door. "Who's there?" I called cautiously.

Whoever it was knocked again and I became aware that it wasn't coming from the doorway, but the window.

I looked over and was startled to see Ellie Nash staring back at me.

Maybe I was still asleep and this was going to turn into one of those dreams. I smiled and started to settle back on my bed only to hear her knocking louder. I should probably let her in, huh?

I got up and unlocked the window, sliding it open.

"You're sleeping?" Ellie asked, accusingly as she slipped gracefully inside.

It was two in the morning, what did she expect? I shrugged and flopped back on my bed. Let the good dreams begin! I closed my eyes and settled back, waiting.

"Get up!" Ellie growled at me a few moments later, scooping my jeans and a t-shirt off my floor and tossing them at me. Hard.

"Ellie…?" I scratched my head, and yawned. Guess I was awake after all.

"I can't believe you can just sleep!" she brought me the rest of the way out of my daze.

"It's two in the morning," I justified, still half asleep.

"Are you going to help me or not?"

"What are we supposed to do? Marco won't leave and he won't let us call the cops," I replied, tiredly.

"So…we have to make him come out."

"In case you forgot, there's a chain on his door."

"You're just going to give up?" she challenged. "You're going to let his father…" She stopped short of what it was that we both suspected his father had done. Like me, she was apparently having trouble wrapping her head around that one.

"What are we supposed to do, El?" I asked seriously. "I want to help, but there's nothing we can do if he won't leave."

"We take him some clothes, for one," she replied, the fight fizzling from her voice. "And food. I don't think he's getting enough."

See, I had tried to tell her that earlier, but had she listened? No. She just glared at me for suggesting I go get food! Now see who's the dumb one?

"All right," I agreed, getting out of bed again. I pulled on the clothes she'd thrown at me while she started pulling open my dresser drawers and pulling out stuff. Finally she settled on a long sleeved black t-shirt and a pair of jeans. A pair of jeans that were going to be way too big, I might add, but I supposed they'd be better than nothing. I grabbed a belt from my closet and handed it to her.

She gave me a weak smile and accepted it. "Thanks."

I nodded. "My shoes are going to be way too big," I informed her, looking into my closet again. "If we're going to convince him to leave, we'll need to find him some shoes he can actually walk in."

She nodded, and looked deep in thought for a few moments. "I'll meet you there. Pack some food and meet me over there," she whispered, handing the bundle of clothes back to me.

Before I could even think of arguing, or suggesting that we wait until morning, she was out the window again. Hadn't the girl ever heard of using the door? I would have let her out downstairs!

I sat down on my bed, wondering for a few moments if that had really just happened. . Nobody was ever going to believe me that Ellie Nash spent the night in my room. Well, okay, that she spent like five minutes in my room in the middle of the night, but still, nobody was going to believe me.

I smiled to myself as I lay back for just a moment, psyching myself up for the run over to Marco's.

In hindsight, that was probably a mistake. The next thing I knew, it was almost five-thirty in the morning. I hadn't meant to fall asleep. I scrambled from bed and grabbed the stuff for Marco. Trying not to wake my mom, I headed quickly down to the kitchen and raided the fridge for anything and everything I could find that I could give Marco. Leftover meatloaf, leftover green beans (hey, at last I wouldn't have to eat them), and all sorts of other things that I could throw into a bag.

It was almost light out by the time I got to Marco's. There was no sign of Ellie anywhere outside. I considered knocking on the door, but thought better of it. They'd probably never let me in to see him if they actually answered the door.

So it was back to the damned trellis again.

I was getting better at it. A little. Or would have been if it weren't for the extra stuff I was carrying. I managed to get up to the window, and peeked in.

It turned out I wasn't the only one of us to fall asleep.

I grinned at the way Ellie and Marco were curled up together. If it weren't for the fact that Marco was gay, I would have sworn…

I almost fell backward off the trellis.

_Mr. Del Rossi was giving me a strange look, but I just flashed a smile back. _

"_He rather spend time with this…Dylan boy, then go out with this Hazel?"_

"_She's not his type?" I suggested, sounding hopeful that he'd buy it._

_He seemed to get a look of understanding on his face. But I could se that he wasn't exactly happy with my answer._

Crap.

This was all my fault.

I was such a dead man.

A/N: This story has been really strange for me to write, and I think that it's going to be a lot shorter than I originally planned on. It's beenmuch harder formeto write about such a serious subjectwhile trying to keep writing in the style ofhow I see Spinner on the show than I thought it would be. Thanks to those who have reviewed, it's very appreciated and keeps me motivated to keep working on it. So, I may wrap this one up in the next chapter or so, but if the interest is out there, I may write a companion story told from either Ellie's POV or Marco's--or possibly will rewrite this story so that there are alternating chapters from Ellie's and Marco's points of view. Anyhoo, if you're reading, please review and let me know what you think! Thanks!


End file.
